Yankee Stadium prices are insane!

Daily News ^ | 5/4/08 | Mike Lupica

[melt]

There is a very good reason why most Yankee fans don't care how much their team spends on baseball players. One of the best reasons is that their team keeps asking them - at least the most well-heeled of them - to spend more and more to help pay the freight.

There is a guy I know who has tickets behind the Yankee dugout, has had them for awhile. Last season each seat cost $150 per game. This season, because it is the last season at the old Yankee Stadium, the cost went up to $250. Next season, if he wants to keep the same seats when everybody moves across 161st St. to the new Yankee Stadium, the cost will go to $850 per seat.

If he wants to keep his current seats, he has to sign a minimum four-year contract, and they want a third of the cost of the first year up front. If he goes for that deal, they say the most they can increase him over the term of the contract is 4% a year.

"I told my friends who are going this season, ‘Enjoy yourselves, because you'll never be this close again,'" my friend said Saturday.

Now this isn't the old Lawn Tennis Association out of the 1950s, where everybody was just supposed to play for the love of the game. The Yankees are the biggest baseball business in the world, and running the business costs money. The Mets aren't going to be giving away their "premium" tickets at Citi Field, either. But they haven't set next season's ticket prices yet, perhaps sitting back and tracking the baseball market in the Bronx. Well, it's either a market or a shakedown.

[gusopol3]

He probably made a heck of a lot more selling Mr. Coffee; plus, they never got the lease on Marilyn Monroe, for what it was worth (well, at least he seemed to cherish it)

[kaboom]

Insane, I'll give you insane.

Washington Nationals seating behind home plate $330

and they haven't done anything yet (empty each game, looks great on TV)

[Larry Lucido]

Yep.

“Insane” is pricing an item for way more, or way less, than it’s worth.

[Freedom4US]

Was President Coolidge there that day? ;)

[uncbob]

On a side note, and with the new Stadium tix prices aside, this being the final season played in the original Yankee Stadium ... all tickets to all games are SOLD OUT! Thats right, 81 games at Yankee Stadium 2008 are SOLD OUT SOLID !!! Try Ticketmaster if you don't beleive me ....

Damn recession

[uncbob]

I figure I'll spend $900 to $1,000 that day once parking, food and dinner afterwards is factored in. I was at a Boston restaurant last night with my wife (Chart House on Long Wharf) and we spent over $300 all told. It is getting insane out there.

Not insane enough to prevent you from paying though

[packrat35]

No way I’d spend $1000 for a day at the ballpark. I gave up on sports long ago but even if I still cared, I would never spend that kind of money for one game.

For that, I could have an entire vacation at Disney World for my wife and I, or just about anyplace else.

People can spend as they want, but that’s just crazy.

[Rebelbase]

“I figure I’ll spend $900 to $1,000 that day once parking, food and dinner afterwards is factored in. I was at a Boston restaurant last night with my wife (Chart House on Long Wharf) and we spent over $300 all told.”

Wow. I took the girlfriend, her son, my son and brother out to dinner last night a local redneck chicken joint and ate until we could explode. $46 total. After that we went to a local short track inside a stadium and watched 6 races plus a demo derby, drinks—$55 for all of us. The cultural shock value of sitting in the beer section with the redneck drunks was priceless.

Anyway, left at 6:00pm, didn’t get home until 1:00am spent $101 total.

[loungeSerf]

The Yankees are privately owned and can (and should) charge whatever the market will bear.
It's not like they force you to go to the games.

My understanding is that MLB is in effect a government sanctioned monopoly. I think that kind of distorts what the market will bear.

[scrabblehack]

Surely that’s only a drop in the bucket for one player’s salary...

[jas3]

The Yankees are privately owned and can (and should) charge whatever the market will bear.

Yeah? Who paid for the stadium? If the Yankees paid for it 100%, then I agree with you. If the taxpayers chipped in, you're wrong.

Taxpayers paying for sports stadium does not transfer ownership of private sporting teams to the fans, nor does it require that the Yankee's owners charge less than the maximum price that the public is willing to pay.

So, you may not like being socked twice for a new stadium and for expensive tickets, but you are going to have to learn to live with it.

jas3

[ShadowAce]

Not I. I don’t live in NY, much less in NYC.

[jas3]

My understanding is that MLB is in effect a government sanctioned monopoly. I think that kind of distorts what the market will bear.

I don't endorse your understanding. Baseball is simply one form of entertainment to the fans. Those fans can choose from dozens of forms of entertainment other than baseball.

Major League Baseball may have some characteristics of a monopoly to the players who have very specialized skillsets. But the fans are quite free to pursue any form of diversion they like other than baseball.

My strong advice to you is to vote with your wallet and your feet. Do not support an organization that overcharges you for a service.

jas3

[Clemenza]

Easy. Don’t support the fags in pinstripes who’s fanbase is largely comprised of tourists, transplants (who are ruining NYC), and guidos. Take the 7 Train to Willets Point and support REAL men for a change!

[Clemenza]

Easy. Don’t support the fags in pinstripes whose fanbase is largely comprised of tourists, transplants (who are ruining NYC), and guidos. Take the 7 Train to Willets Point and support REAL men for a change!

[jas3]

Not I. I don’t live in NY, much less in NYC.

Nor do I.

But if anyone deserves some sort of repayment, it should be the taxpayers, not the fans. If the state decided to tax all it citizens only to the confer a below market pricing benefit on Yankees fans, then that is the equivalent of stealing from non-Yankees fans taxpayers to subsidize Yankees fans taxpayers.

Subsidies are pernicious and should be resisted. But it is worse to try to fix one unjust subsidy with another than to simply let the first one stand. Of course it would be optimal if the states were not in the business of subsidizing private sports teams in the first place.

jas3

[ShadowAce]

All your points are correct. The only gripe I truly have is with the city leaders who would give a team such a deal without negotiating ticket prices in that deal.

It's a business/negotiating omission. And that's why I will never again:

1. Buy a ticket to a big-league sports game
2. Watch a Pay-Per-View sporting event
3. Subscribe to MLB TV on cable
4. Vote for any kind of sports-related tax abatement
5. Pay anything to mlb.com to watch a sports game

I will watch them on free TV. That's it.

[Richard Kimball]

I'm 25mi south of the Little League World Series fields, where admission was free last time I went and dogs/cokes were $1.

I love going to ball games, and attend high school games a lot. Usually, I get paid for photographing the teams. The last time I went to a Dallas Cowboys game, I was so far up I couldn't see the players, and ended up sitting in my seat watching the game on a television I could see in one of the luxury suites.

I love my Cowboys, but I watch them on television from home, now. I go to high school and sometimes college games.

BTW, in Texas, some of the snack stands make home-cooked fajitas, or set up a grill outside and make great cheeseburgers. Every game is like a family reunion.

The Yankees filled their stadium at that price, and if they'd charged less, the scalpers would have just picked up more profits. A guy like me can't afford to go to a big league game anymore. That's the way it is. Okay, actually I could afford it, but I'd have to give up something else and it's not important enough to me to spend $400-500 bucks and fight traffic to get there.

[jas3]

Shadow, I agree 99% with you. But the city leaders should not be negotiating ticket prices. They should be negotiating repayment to the taxpayer in full with interest. In fact they should not be in negotiations with the sports teams owners at all. The MLB owners should go to the capital markets and try to float public debt or equity to fund their projects without any state intervention or funding.

I also never buy tickets to sports games, watch PPV sporting events, or subscribe to any cable sports services.

I vote down EVERY proposed tax increase, since all levels of government are already bloated and EVERY new service or project can be funded simply by reducing spending.

And it goes without saying that I would never pay MLB.COM to watch a sports game.

jas3

[Tainan]

The couple of times I lived in C-Town the real Baseball deal was going to a Clippers game. Especially on a promo night when large German sausage dogs were a buck and beer was $2.50 for 16 oz cups. All the seats are good at Clipper Stadium and lots of entertainment. I may have spent as much as $6.00 to get in one time...;)

I’ve seen a lot of well-known Yanks come through the farm system...both on their way up & down. Some when they were bouncing...like Strawberry.